<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/10/ministers-hope-to-ban-solar-projects-from-most-english-farms>
"Ministers are planning to ban solar farms from most of England’s farmland, the
Guardian can reveal.
The new environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, is understood to oppose solar
panels being placed on agricultural land, arguing that it impedes his programme
of growth and boosting food production.
To this end, say government sources, he has asked his officials to redefine
“best and most versatile” land (BMV), which is earmarked for farming, to
include the middling-to-low category 3b. Land is graded from 1 to 5, and
currently BMV includes grades 1 to 3a. Planning guidance says that development
on BMV land should be avoided, although planning authorities may take other
considerations into account.
Currently, most solar farms are built on and planned for 3b land, so this move
would scupper most new developments of the renewable energy source.
Extending BMV to grade 3b would ban solar from about 41% of the land area of
England, or about 58% of agricultural land. Much of grade 4 and 5 land is in
upland areas that are unsuitable for solar developments."
Via Kevin O'Brien, who wrote "I think we are the point where right-wing
governments are actively looking for ways to make everything worse."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
